Category Archives for Uncategorized

Candy Corn Henge: Our Sweet Tooth Acting Up Again

candy corn hengephoto by erne the ferle, with permission

As if you needed proof that we aren’t the best at what we do, now we’re posting a photo that good bloggers would set aside and post at Halloween. Nine or ten weeks from now, a classic trick-or-treat candy henge would be just the thing to post. To be honest, we did consider waiting. But then we thought, what if we never get to? Things happen–the world could end or else we could die, even before we finish this post! Life is so uncertain!

Ahem. Not only that, but we were running low on things to post and we did have this on hand . . .  All that aside, here’s another candy henge, made mostly of sugar and corn syrup and honey and food colouring. We like the touch of leaving some uprights un-linteled. Even without fallen stones, it gives that desired ruined flavour to the photo, helped out by the red Salisbury plain.

candy_corn_dancing_lg_whtIf you had asked us, we would not have guessed that candy corn would stand up like that. The ones without legs, we mean. We know the others can stand up–and even dance!

Score: 5½ druids. We’re getting soft in our old age. But look–we are nearly finished the post and we’re still alive after all. Sweet!

Stonehenge en la Playa: the Last Continent Obtained!

argentina 11photos by McConnell Franklin, with permission

Okay, folks. *rubs hands enthusiastically* A milestone! Those faithful readers who have been following the blog since early on (bless your hearts) know that we have two goals. One is to find a replica on every continent, and the other is to get astronauts to build one on the International Space Station. Well, today we are posting a Stonehenge replica from Argentina, in South America (hopefully you knew that but we’re not taking any chances), the last continent left unhenged. Congratulations to us!

This Stonehenge in the sand was built by McConnell Franklin and girlfriend Victoria this past spring on the beach by Lago Lacar, a lake at the base of the Andes Mountains in Argentina. He writes, “The water was a bit cool for swimming, so we ended up building a huge castle (complete with tables and chairs, a moat, paths, a fence, bridges, an archway, a drip forest, and a fountain) all out of parts that we found on the beach/in the water. . . We decided at some point that the picnic area would not be complete without a StoneHenge replica, so we spent quite a bit of time scouring the area for enough properly-sized red rocks and built the mini Henge.”

argentina 41The castle is an interesting construction. You can see all of it here. We couldn’t help but notice what could be burial mounds near the replica. But we may be misinterpreting. We have ancient sites on the brain. Note the photo series covers the collapse of the henge as waters encroached.

Okay, this is just three trilithons, but that’s better than many replicas we’ve posted. Score: 6 druids. Why not? It’s opened up a whole new continent. Clonehenge conquers the world! On to space, our final frontier!

West Kennet Long Barrow

WKLB 2photo by Pete Glastonbury, with permission

In keeping with our twin missions of fun and information, we interrupt our regular programming for a public service announcement. WKLB stands for West Kennet Long Barrow. A barrow is “a large mound of earth or stones over the remains of the dead” according to Miriam Webster. And a long barrow is–long. This one is a chambered barrow, meaning there were chambers within it back when it was built about 5500 years ago (well before Stonehenge, we should note). They left bones there.

WKLB is part of the Avebury/Silbury landscape and Silbury Hill is visible from here. No one is sure why Wiltshire was blessed with such a constellation of sites. Not fair–they get most of the crop circles, too! Maybe it’s just a place for people with a  great deal of time on their hands. Mr. Terry Pratchett lives there and look at all the books he’s had time to write! Wait–that’s it! Time is different in Wiltshire. An hour there is like three of our hours, so people get more done. We need to move there!

Apparently this also gives people time to make models like those we’ve shown before and the one you see above. This is a cut-away. A photo of the barrow from above can be seen here. Atmospheric photos of the impressive megalithic façade can be seen here and here. The white in the model is the chalk that makes up the landscape of the Wiltshire downs. The mound as it appears now is a rebuild by Stuart Piggott. Before that, it looked like this:

WestKennet

This model can be seen in the Wiltshire Heritage Museum in Devizes. And, no, we don’t get a kickback from them or from Pete Glastonbury. We just like them. We are not above taking kickbacks if they’re offered, but they would have to be from someone who actually had something to kick back with.

No score for this model–it’s not a henge by any definition. But a word about WKLB–we’ve been there. It is awesome–the old meaning of awesome, the kind that stirs your soul and just may slow down time.

[Guest score from Pete G. : 8 archaeologists]

Ogopogo Henge, British Columbia: Built by a Lake Monster?

samhain112photo by Juniper, with permission; henge by ???

Alert reader and now contributor Juniper left us this comment: “I have a pic for you of a replica Seahenge I came across walking along the beach of lake Okanagan, British Columbia (I should mention that this lake has a famous lake monster, the Ogopogo) It must have been made during Halloween as I found it it the day after. And I was walking with a real life Druid at the time!”

There is a lot for us to consider here. We avoided the whole “What is Seahenge?” thing by making the word a link in the quotation above. So now we just have Lake Okanagan, this Druid, and, best of all, the Ogopogo. Let’s look at this situation.

“Innocent” hedgewitch Juniper is walking along the shores of Okanagan Lake, known for its lake monster. It just happens to be All Saints’ Day and she happens to be with a “druid” and what do they find? This strange construction that seems to refer to both Seahenge and Stonehenge (note the lame attempts at lintels). We find this very suspicious. Come clean with us, Juniper!

We know about witches and how they consort with demons–and how Halloween night opens a door between the worlds. We suspect that Juniper, her druid and Ogopogo, Demon of the Deep, performed dark rituals around this circle of tree corpse parts that night. There were sinister doings in the land of the Okanagan Salish and who knows what strange forces were set into motion . . .

Or–possibly not. Heh.  It’s just that we would love to see lake monsters implicated in the building of henge replicas. Think of the publicity! At any rate, we want to thank Juniper for the kind mention of Clonehenge on her blog. And we would like her to consider changing from a hedgewitch to a hengewitch. Why not? It only takes one to get a movement started.

Score: 4 ½ druids. Or 6 Nessies!

Candyhenge, or The Little-Known Druid Years of Queen Frostine

candyhenge

photo by Toy Master, with permission

[note: it has come to our attention that our British friends may not have shared the joys of CandyLand as children. It is a board game peopled by fantasy characters like the beautiful Queen Frostine and the evil Lord Licorice. It was often the first game for children because the characters advanced by colored cards matching to colored spaces, with no numbers. And the story inside the lid of the game was some people’s first introduction to the fantasy genre.]

So here’s the plot: Queen Frostine makes an impulse marriage with the Jolly Rancher and together they decide to memorialise their love with a Stonehenge replica. Little do they know that over in the next kingdom a jealous Lord Licorice is breeding a race of sugar-eating bats . . .blah, blah . . . and then everything went horribly wrong! . . . blah, blah . . . happily ever after.

Who says we can’t write a screenplay? The truth is, plans for a Candyland movie do exist, and we doubt they’ll think of the exciting henge angle without our help. When someone sent us a link to this candy replica, we saw our chance to do some hinting. (We wanted Terry Gilliam to direct, but sadly it is not to be.)

Back to the henge. Ann from Heritage Key sent us the link to the picture, which is probably the most recently-made item in the Heritage Key Flickr group. We do like the colours and of course the juxtaposition of food on the ground adds that bit of squeamishness that can substitute for drama in a pinch. Score: 5½ druids. It’s just a ring of trilithons, after all, and it doesn’t quite have the charisma of sausage henge.

We think Hugh Laurie would make a great Lord Licorice! When you read this post, Hollywood movers and shakers, give us a call. We have more henge-movie ideas you’ll love!

Claremont Henge, California

P7200031photos by Simon Burrow, with permission

The old question–doth a trilithon a Stonehenge make? And the answer may be, It depends how desperate you are for material for your blog. In this case we have no qualms including the item since  noted Stonehenge replica scholar Simon Burrow suggested it. We’ll blame him! Looking at his blogs, he seems like such a thoughtful, intelligent, good-hearted person, it’s difficult to understand how he became involved in this sordid henge business, but there it is. You may see his posting of this trilithon here.

You may remember Mr. Burrow from such feats of henging as LaptopHenge and the magnificent Cellphonehenge, as well as some of the photos on the International Virtual Henge Fest page. (Click on the word Henge on the side of his blog, linked in the photo caption above, to see still more.)

P7200032Mr. Burrow likens the spiral on the hitching stone near the trilithon to the Anasazi snail design, but some of our readers may be reminded as we were, of the spiral designs carved in to stones at the Newgrange passage grave in Ireland. Although California is closer to the Anasazi sites, the trilithon’s possible reference to Stonehenge makes the Newgrange reference just as likely. Of course, the spiral is universal, and for all we know could be the logo for their tanning studio!

It’s just a trilithon with two shorter stones that we could charitably call bluestones. As for the spiral stone, well, at least it’s not an Easter Island head! Score: 5 druids. Of course, if it should turn out that everyone on this block had a trilithon and two bluestones, the score would rise rapidly. A community Stonehenge replica . . . for now it remains but a happy dream!

BrickHenge at Last!

CD3brickhenge

photo and henge work by Dr. Thomas Grier, with permission

Somehow we got through 187 posts on Clonehenge (yes, 187. We’re as surprised as you are, believe me!) without posting a brickhenge. To quote an authority on Stonehenge replicas–that is to say ourselves–“anything vaguely rectangular and three-dimensional eventually becomes the material for a henge,” so brickhenges inevitably happen. Friend of the blog Simon Burrow blogged one, and there are others, even an album cover.  So how we managed to avoid posting one until now is hard to say. That is, unless you have no trouble pronouncing the word laziness.

But now, with the help of Tom Grier, professor at Winona State University in Minnesota, admirer of ancient sites, and, when it comes to visiting Stonehenge replicas, a spectacular repeat offender, we have a brickhenge to post without actually having had to type the word brickhenge into a search engine. Dr. Grier’s story goes like this:

“One day while crossing campus, camera in hand, I saw a neatly stacked pile of bricks, with one or two resting against each other. For some reason, it reminded me of Stonehenge. I spent a moment or two rearranging a few bricks– with students and faculty walking by and snickering– then took a few photos. This was done just to amuse myself.”

This is common in the afflicted. The henge form is able to manipulate the volition centers of the brain in a way that fools the victim into believing that he or she thought of and executed the construction of his own free will. This usually works more efficiently with alcohol, but some very sensitive individuals, especially those who look at too many replicas or photos of Stonehenge, can be made slaves to the henge parasite while in a sober state. (Of course, we don’t know Grier and we may be making a false assumption there!)

Yes, it is the traditional circle of trilithons often resorted to by the less serious replica builder, and, yes, that three-brick construction closest to the camera is unorthodox, but we don’t always subtract druids for that. And of course there is the courage exhibited by persisting despite the snickers of students and other faculty. Score: 6½ druids.

You will hear from Dr. Grier again. He has promised us an overview of his visits to several of the replicas we have listed, and we await them eagerly. Meanwhile, we recommend you visit his remarkable and beautiful photo gallery.  We end with this post script: “By the way, sadly, BrickHenge stood proudly on campus nearly a full week, until some stone mason used the resources to finish a stone paver base for a wrought-iron campus bench. Ironic, isn’t it?”

Wrought-ironic, we would say . . .

Silbury Replica: Because it’s There

SilburyModel2photo by Pete Glastonbury, with permission

At the same Barn Gallery in Avebury that we mentioned in this post, friend of the blog and finder of obscurities Pete G. found this solo replica of Silbury Hill. As far as we can tell, the cirular plaques around it explain the stages by which the mound was made.

We post this as part of this series of museum replicas we’ve been posting, most of them having to do with the greater Avebury landscape. We have a fond place in our hearts for Silbury because when we visited in  1972 we tried to run all the way up it. (Do not do this–it is not allowed, nor should it be, and we apologise. We were young . . . sigh)

This is a very nice replica, probably in better shape than the hill itself at this point. We won’t score it, though. The druid thing seems funny in connection with Avebury and Stonehenge, but just seems stupid in the face of Silbury’s potent form.

Handhenge, by Guido Daniele

atet_stonehengeposted without permission, just with a big honking copyright mark

Yes, it’s distasteful to post a picture with an advertised product and, yes, it’s distasteful to post a picture with a big copyright claim across it. But lordy, folks, ain’t this’n worth it? This ranks right up there with Clotheshenge as far as we’re concerned. Bravo, Mr. Guido Daniele! Well done.

What we like is what in another medium might be called the painterly effect. Hands actually look almost nothing like megaliths. But with colour and angle and context the photograph communicates Stonehenge without having to look just like it.

Others have toyed with the handhenge concept, but with fingers as the uprights: see here and here. We have never seen one like this before.

We have to hand it to him–he didn’t go digital. Heh. Sorry–we felt some pressure and knuckled under. Guess we just fingered that you’d play along. Oh, yeah: Nailed it! (I’ll bet you wish you were . . . armed?) [still need a palm and a thumb joke here . . .]

Sorry! Had to get that out of our system. Score: 7 druids for a great presentation. Our thanks to student/artist friend of the blog, Truman Lahr, and to input-output analysis guru Michael Lahr for bringing this to our attention.

#lameclaimtofame: On the page at this link, Guido Daniele is shown with Keith Haring, who went to the same school we did and whose picture is in our high school yearbook. Henges bring us full circle!

Puppyhenge

cute pictures of puppies with captions

The placement of the white puppies is said to align with the solstice and equinox.

It was brought to our attention by alert contributor Feòrag that Ihasahotdog.com, partner site to our longtime favorite, Icanhascheezburger.com, entered the henging arena this week with the above post. Nice!

This is not the first time dogs have been involved. You may remember Bonehenge, in which the labrador Winnie was testing her henge for alignments, and Doghenge, consisting primarily of toy dogs.

Gee, things weren’t so serious around here back then! One day soon maybe we’ll do a post mentioning some of our more unusual Stonehenge replicas. It’s not all science and museums in the henge business. There’s a lot of stupidity involved, too, and far be it from us to leave that behind!